Silk Road Vendor Behind Ricin Letter Sent To Obama: Homeland Security

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An individual suspected of sending a letter laced with the poison ricin to President Barack Obama earlier this year is, according to the Department of Homeland Security, a former vendor on Silk Road, the online black market shut down by federal authorities in October.

Ahead of a Senate committee on digital currency such as Bitcoin, DHS official Brian De Vallance sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs detailing the agency's efforts regarding virtual currency and its ties to criminal activity. In the letter, Vallance briefly mentions a link between Silk Road and the ricin-laced mail.

"Of recent noteworthy interest was the determination that the suspect who had sent Ricin to President Obama earlier this year was a vendor on the Silk Road site," Vallance writes.

“The anonymity of the market place and near anonymity of the currency made it nearly impossible for law enforcement to track and, therefore made it an attractive place for criminal activity," Carper said. “In fact, in the course of our investigation, the Department of Homeland Security informed us that the suspect who allegedly sent ricin to President Obama in April of this year was a vendor on Silk Road."

As Mashable points out, two individuals have been accused of sending the president the poisoned letters: James Everett Dutschke and Shannon Guess Richardson. Dutschke was arrested after allegedly sending ricin-laced mail to Obama in April, while Richardson allegedly mailed the letters to the president in May. However, the DHS did not refer to the Silk Road-connected suspect by name.

On January 15, 1947, the remains of Elizabeth Short, were found in a vacant lot in Los Angeles. What made this discovery the stuff of tabloid sensation, however, was the Glasgow smile left on the aspiring actress' face--made with 3-inch slashes on each side. This, coupled with Short's dark hair, fair complexion and reputation for sporting a dahlia in her hair, dubbed her "The Black Dahlia" in headlines.
What followed was a media circus filled with rumors and speculation about the promiscuous 22-year-old's checkered past. What haunts theorists to this day, apart from the victim's uniquely nightmarish visage, is that the case remains unsolved after some 200 suspects were interviewed and ultimately released--making it one of Hollywood's most lurid legends.